1. Introduction
Virtual teams (VT) are becoming prevalent in the current corporate environment.
According to The Wall Street Journal, over half of companies with an employee base of
5,000 or more use virtual teams (De Lisser, 1999). McDonough et al. (2001) also
predicted that in the upcoming years almost two-thirds of new product development
teams will evolve into virtual teams. In line with these trends, a survey by the Gartner
Group found that more than 60 percent of professional employees work in VTs
(Kanawattanachai and Yoo, 2002). This increased interest in harnessing the potential
of VTs needs to be supported by an understanding of the key drivers of VT
performance.